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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

One Woman’s Effort to Help Wildlife Survive.

Most of us take for granted the beauty that the Creator set in front of us. We don’t take time to enjoy watching the fawn nibbling at the grass next to his mother. We only give a passing glance to the large bird flying past. Only when something is right on top of us do we even notice it exists.
MaryJane Angelo is different in that she sees the animals for what they are. Beautiful creatures that belong in the wild. For many if it had not been for the intervention and hard work they would have died from the injuries they had received because of human interference.

In 1998, Skye Spirit’s Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center (SSWREC) opened its doors in Western Pennsylvania. SSWREC has helped many return to the wild with a new release on life. Those that cannot be release find a new home on the acreage of SSWREC and help to educate the public about their species and the laws concerning them.

One such resident of SSWREC is a young male bobcat that surprised a hunter in the Pocono’s in February of 2006. He is lucky that the hunter didn’t shoot him when he started acting like an overgrown cat. At the time, he weighed around five pounds and his ribs were showing.

He was taken to the local wildlife rehabilitation center and was then taken to their vet. An x-ray revealed that he had an obstruction in his intestinal tract requiring emergency surgery. The obstruction turned out to be a latex dog toy. It is believed that someone without the proper permits had raised him as a pet from infancy. This beautiful cat cannot be released because he believes all humans are his friends.

MaryJane’s specialty is birds of prey. Many are returned to the wild and those left behind help to foster orphaned offspring. Those that don’t make it because of their injuries are remembered by a single feather kept in a special place. There are also photos. One picture is of a bald Eagle that didn’t survive flying into power lines and was electrocuted.
Volunteers have built many of the structures on the land with the supplies donated by local businesses. An Eagle Scout's project was building the songbird enclosure. Only this last weekend several of the structures were damaged because of high winds dropping debris, such as a power pole to one. Luckily, none of the rehabilitating wildlife was injured.

At any given time SSWREC has 40-65 animals recovering from injuries or have been orphaned. The amount of animals normally slows down in the wintertime because of migration and hibernation. Only to increase during baby season, mainly bunnies, March to October.

SSWREC has had a few set backs due to donating suppliers closing and leaving them without other options for obtaining live food for the birds of prey other than out of pocket expense.

A ray of hope shines as an anonymous family has decided to double all donations made to SSWREC for the next 16 days. This is only way someone can donate to a good cause. The other is by recycling ink cartridge.

SSWREC is a non-profit organization that runs solely on donations from the public.